Of Nightmares and Memories
by Meta Bunny
Summary: Because I felt like writing a Colu one-shot.


Cobra had a scowl of irritation as he approached his home, taking the key from under the welcome mat put by Lucy and using it to enter his house. Cobra closed his front door as soon as he entered, the Poison Dragon Slayer stripping down into his boxers like Gray, except that he was aware of the stripping, not caring as the cold air of the winter's night chilled his toned body.

Early morning he was taken from his mate because of a mission that he was needed for. After being told what he had to do from the people behind the request (who kept on insulting and berating him in their heads like they forgot that he could hear thoughts) he was forced to hunt down a bunch of rogue mages that were terrorizing their town. After finally doing what the damned requesters demanded, the Rune Knights appeared to arrested the detained mages; and during that the Rune Knights and the people who originally posted the request kept on thinking of him in the negative light.

Cobra let out a low growl, willing away the poison surrounding his hands as his magic responded to his emotions. Cobra, clad only in his boxers, made his way up the stairs to the bedroom that he shared with his mate; right now all that Cobra wanted was to snuggle with his Lucy and fall asleep listening to her dreams, and in the morning give her some hard sex before a nice, long cuddle session.

However, Cobra's ears picked up a sound that made his blood go cold while simultaneously making it boil: crying. Cobra's instincts as a Dragon Slayer kicked in as he heard his mate crying, the man ran towards his and Lucy's room, opening to find his blonde mate, wrapped up in their blanket and crying in her sleep.

Cobra made a sad expression as he heard his mate's soul; she was having a nightmare of being lost and alone in a dark void, being endlessly taunted by disembodied voices as bright red eyes watched her with sadistic glee. Cobra's inner dragon snarled, however he was able to keep his human side dominant as he crawled onto the bed and went next to his mate. Cobra wrapped his arms and legs around the crying form of his mate, stroking her head as he nuzzled the side of her head.

"Bright Eyes, it's me, Cobra." Cobra whispered soothingly into Lucy's ear. Lucy's crying subsided into sniffles, her dream changing slightly; Cobra suddenly appeared before Lucy and held her into a protective embrace, probably because that's what he was doing in real life.

"E... Erik?" Lucy said, looking at her mate in his eye in her dream. Cobra shifted his mate's body around until she was sniffling in his chest, stroking his hand down her back. This action was reflected in Lucy's dream, the dream Lucy sniffling into the dream Cobra's chest as he stroked her comfortingly. "I... where are we?"

"It's okay, My Sweet Light." Cobra whispered into Lucy's ear, the man feeling happier as the only tears on Lucy's face were from when she cried earlier. "I'll protect you from them."

Cobra only said those words to calm his mate down, although her crazy mind went to an odd place. The Cobra in Lucy's dream suddenly transformed into a dragon; his clothes ripping to shreds as his muscles and size expanded, his hands turning into claws, his tan skin turning into purple scales, two giant wings and a giant tail sprouting from his body, his teeth turning sharp and two long horns growing from the sides of his head.

The dream dragon Cobra wrapped his tail around Lucy protectively, growling and snarling at the red eyes and disembodied voices, a dark red gas of poison coming out of his mouth and claws.

Cobra chuckled at his girlfriend's weird change of dream. "I swear, Bright Eyes, you have the mind of a writer for sure." Cobra said as he chuckled. Lucy let out a little murmur as her body wiggled, her eyes opening tiredly as she turned around to look at the man who had his legs and arms wrapped around her body. Lucy's eyes haven't yet adjusted to the darkness of the night as she had just woke up so she traced her hands over the face of the man next to her, checking if his features were that of her mate. Cobra, having heard Lucy's thoughts and intentions, let the blonde move her hands over his face like she was a blind woman. Lucy smiled as she recognised Cobra's cheekbones and scar, the man's face becoming more visible as her eyes adjusted to the darkness.

"Cobra!" Lucy exclaimed, hugging the maroon-haired man. Cobra hugged Lucy back as she snuggled into his chest, the grinning man rubbing his hand up and down her nearly naked back; the woman in only a bra and panties.

"Feelin' better, Sweet?" Cobra asked as he grinned at his beautiful mate.

"Yes, thank you." Lucy replied, kissing Cobra on his lips. The Poison Dragon Slayer kissed her back, pulling her deeper into the kiss. Lucy and Cobra separated their kiss to breathe air back in, the two gazing lovingly at each other. "I love you, Cobra."

"And I love you too, Lucy." Cobra said, nuzzling his face into the side of mate's neck. Lucy laughed as Cobra's nose tickled the area of the neck that it rubbed against, the Dragon Slayer letting out a little purr as he heard that melodious laugh of hers that loved hearing.

"Cobra... that tickles." Lucy said in-between giggles.

"It's not my fault that your scent is irresistible." Cobra said as he licked the side of Lucy's neck. Lucy laughed even more as Cobra continued to tickle her neck with his tongue, her face turning red from how much she was laughing. "So... what was the nightmare about?" Cobra asked as he stopped nuzzling and licking his mate's neck.

"Uh... oh, it's nothing. I was just having a nightmare." Lucy said, looking away from Cobra. Cobra's eye squinted as he listened to his Lucy's soul, checking to see if she was trying to hide something from him. To Cobra's relief, it really was just a nightmare and nothing else. However, Cobra's eye widened slightly as he heard something else in her soul.

"So we'll be needed to stop a Dark Guild, huh?" Cobra said as he heard Lucy's soul.

"Well... us and a few others." Lucy said. "It will be not only you and I, but the rest of my team and the other former members of Crime Sorcière. It's a mission given by the Magic Council, there's a Dark Guild that has been rising in power and they want us to stop it. It was a little hard for them to find Richard, as he's travelling the world with his brother, but he has agreed to help. We'll be taking down the Dark Guild in three days."

"Ah... got it." Cobra said, wrapping his arms around Lucy and dozing off to sleep. "Lets have some shut-eye, I want to be reenergized when I fuck you senseless in the morning."

Lucy blushed crazily at Cobra's words, causing the man to snicker at his mate's reaction, but nevertheless fell asleep in his arms.

* * *

"Poison Dragon's Roar!" Cobra shouted, shooting out a large poison gas towards multiple dark mages. The dark mages had fallen to the ground, either passed out or groaning in pain because of the poison; the dose wasn't enough to kill them but it was still enough to leave them incapacitated. "How are you doing, Bright Eyes?"

Cobra looked towards his blonde mate, smirking as she used the power of her Sagittarius Star Dress to send multiple dark mages that were so laughably weak flying away while Virgo tied them all up in rope. "I'm doing just fine, Snake Boy." Lucy replied, noticing multiple mages running towards her with magic staves and other weapons in their hands, ready to attack her. The blonde casually used the magic granted to her by her Star Dress to defeat them all with a few simple arrows.

Many explosions and booms were heard throughout the castle that the Dark Guild took as their headquarters, no doubt a result of the other mages taking down the Dark Guild.

" _Well it looks like the Fire Dragon and Ice Nudist are having their fun._ " Cobra thought, hearing an attempted sneak attack on him and defeating the mage behind it effortlessly. A far-away wall exploded, revealing Natsu and multiple dark mages that were burnt to a crisp lying down unconscious behind him. Another far-away wall from the other side had exploded, this time it revealed Gray and multiple frozen dark mages behind him.

"Ha, I defeated 57 mages! Beat that, Frost Face!" Natsu yelled towards Gray in self-entitled triumph.

"I already froze 65 and I'm just getting started." Gray said, looking smug as Natsu looked defeated.

"There's only a few more mages left." Racer said, the blond appearing suddenly due to the nature of his magic, catching the attention of his comrades. "All we need to do is take out the remaining mages and the master and then this guild is done for."

A particularly huge explosion was heard from down the hall, the crumbling of the castle being heard as the explosion began to die down. The five mages ran down the hall where the explosion came from, surprised to see Angel running towards them; her hair was messy, her clothes slightly ripped and small bruises on her.

"What happened, Sorano?" Lucy asked as she noticed the reformed mage.

"Erza, Jellal and Midnight are fighting against the guild master." Sorano explained. "He's used some sort of ancient magic to gain perfect control over a powerful beast. Jellal ordered that we take down and tie up all of the remaining members of the guild before we help them defeat the master and the beast he is controlling."

The ground next to the six mages rose up as a muddy bulge, the mud dissipating to reveal Hoteye, Meredy, Wendy, Carla and Happy. "All the other mages have been defeated and secured. Oh yeah." Hoteye said.

"Then we shouldn't be wastin' time and help them before they become the beast's dinner." Cobra said, everyone nodding in agreement. The mages began running down the hall to the main room; a large room with pillars that held the ceiling high in the air. There in the room was Erza in her Heaven's Wheel Armour, Jellal flying around as a yellow blur as he used his magic and Midnight was attacking the guild master and the beast he was controlling with an invisible force.

However it was noticeable that despite their number advantage, the three mages weren't doing very well. Erza was panting as sweat dropped down her brow, Jellal's clothes looked torn and he had a long cut over his face, and Midnight actually had bruises on him.

The guild master was in a black cloak, ruffled dark blue hair covering his head, a pointy chin with wrinkles caused by constant smirking and dark green eyes that looked at the mages in front of him without even a hint of seriousness. Behind the man was a giant beast, one so big that it could hold the guild master in its hand. It had large, sharp, white teeth and dark blue fur. Two large horns sprouted from its head and its eyes were glowing white.

Lucy noticed that there was a strange purple ring with magical markings that surrounded the guild master's wrist and the beast's neck, most likely because of the magic that the man was using to control the beast.

The other mages jumped into battle, helping their comrades. Despite having fourteen on their enemy's two, with most of their fourteen being some really powerful mages, our heroes weren't doing all to good. Despite the fact that most of the members of the Dark Guild were greatly lacking in power, the guild master and the beast he was somehow able to control possessed a surprisingly high amount of magic power.

As the battle progressed it was coming close to an end, but it was unclear who was on the winning side. If either side was winning.

While the guild master and the beast were clearly becoming exhausted by the battle, the light mages weren't becoming very tip-top themselves. Happy and Carla were both knocked out cold, Wendy was running out of magical energy and needed to rest, Hoteye and Meredy were both left temporarily paralyzed by some sort of magic that the guild master and Gray and Angel were no longer able to move from the injuries and damage they sustained from the guild master.

Currently Natsu, Erza, Jellal, Midnight, Racer and Cobra were fighting the beast; the giant monster's movements were growing sluggish, but the heroes fighting it were starting to run low on energy.

Meanwhile with Lucy and the guild master, the two were in a battle against each other, the guild master smirking at the Celestial Spirit mage. "Tell me, Mrs Bimbo of Fairy Tail, do you really believe that you can defeat me?" The guild master asked, smirking at Lucy.

"I don't believe I can defeat you, I _know_ I can defeat you." Lucy replied, summoning Scorpio and Loke while changing into her Cancer Star Dress. The guild master just laughed, slashing at the air with his bisentō, sending a powerful green slash towards Lucy and her Celestial Spirits. Scorpio summoned a Sand Wall that managed to slow sown the slash enough for him and his comrades to escape.

Lucy dashed towards the guild master, aiming to strike him with her twin blades. The guild master managed to counter Lucy's attack with his bisentō, although while it managed to stop him from getting hurt he was unable to hurt Lucy.

"Fool, a novice at swordplay will never defeat a master swordsman like me." The guild master said, smirking. However, the guild master's smirk disappeared when he noticed that Lucy was smirking in return. "What are you smirking about, woman?"

"Loke, now!" Lucy ordered, the guild master's eyes widening as he realised the blonde's plan. The guild master tried to stop whatever attack was being sent towards him, but was abruptly stopped when a fist surrounded by light punched him in the face. The guild master was sent flying by the attack, dropping his bisentō as he flew, the man sent flying even further as Scorpio shot him in the stomach with a Sand Buster. The guild master crashed into a wall, a cloud of dust appearing from where he crashed.

"Nice trick, but that won't work against me twice." The guild master said as he appeared from the dust cloud, holding his arm out in front of him, making his bisentō fly back into his hand. The guild master began swinging his pole weapon at fast, blurring speeds, multiple green slashes flying towards Lucy and her spirits. Looks like the guild master was becoming serious now.

Lucy ran towards the guild master with Loke not far behind, dodging the many green slashes he sent their way. Lucy once again attempted to hit the man with her twin blades, but was once again intercepted by him. Loke aimed to hit the guild master with another Regulus Impact, but this time he predicated it. The guild master dodged the attack and raised his bisentō into the air, the blade glowing green with magical energy. The guild master stabbed the blade into the ground, releasing a powerful shockwave that hurt Lucy and Loke.

Cobra, who was fighting the beast, froze when he heard Lucy scream, the Dragon Slayer turning around to look at his mate. "Lucy!" Cobra shouted. Cobra was going to run to his mate, but heard the beast behind him attempt an attack, the Dragon Slayer escaping the attack by the skin of his teeth.

"I'm alright, Cobra." Lucy said as she got back up on her hands and knees, the guild master looming over her.

"Oh, but you won't be for long, pathetic little fairy." The guild master said as he loomed over Lucy, though the aforementioned blonde didn't show any fear of him. Scorpio, noticing that the dark mage was going to attempt to kill his master, shot a Sand Spear at the guild master; however the guild master noticed the oncoming attack, raising his bisentō high in the air, green magical energy building in the spear like when he used the shockwave attack. The guild master sent a green slash at Scorpio and his Sand Spear, the green slash being bigger, faster and stronger than the previous slashes used; cutting clean through the beam before cutting Scorpio in half.

Due to being a Celestial Spirt, the cut only sent Scorpio back to the Celestial Spirit World. Nevertheless, the action angered Lucy. A bright glow of golden light happened shimmered from beneath the guild master, the man looking to see Lucy in her Taurus Star Dress. Lucy sent a swift uppercut to the guild master's jaw, causing him to stumble back from the force.

Before he could recover, Lucy punched the guild master in the gut, the power of the punch being augmented by the Star Dress' magic. The guild master, now angry with Lucy, sent a powerful punch to her face. But before the man could get the upper hand, he was kicked in the shin by a Regulus-empowered kick.

The guild master growled at Loke. Lucy pulled out Capricorn's key, his golden key glowing as the blonde used her magic to summon him. As soon as the goat-like being appeared in Earth Land, he sent a swift kick to the guild master's face, breaking his nose. The guild master put his hand underneath his nose before moving it back in front of his eyes, starring at the blood on his hand in rage before growling at Capricorn.

"How dare you make me bleed, you barnyard animal!" The guild master growled. Lucy and Loke got up next to Capricorn, the three advancing on their enemy. The guild master reached for his bisentō, but was stopped as he was kick in the side. Despite his strength and magic, the guild master was left helpless to attack as the Celestial Spirt mage and her Celestial Spirts didn't give him even a second to hit back or use his magic, eventually defeating him.

Lucy heard a loud slam from behind her, the giant beast that her friends were fighting having collapsed on the ground, unconscious and defeated. The beast was defeated, either by Lucy's friends or because it lost its link with the guild master. Happy and Carla were both conscious again, Wendy had seemingly regained her magic energy, Hoteye and Meredy were now free from the paralytic spell placed on them and Gray and Angel were starting to recover from their injuries, mostly from Wendy healing them.

A wave of exhaustion pulsed through Lucy, the blonde sending Loke and Capricorn back to the Celestial Spirit World while dispelling her Star Dress. Lucy smiled at Cobra he approached her, however confusion and fear flowed through her blood as Cobra suddenly had a scared expression.

"Lucy! Look out!" Cobra yelled as he ran towards his blonde mate, his one eye holding fear. Lucy looked behind herself, seeing the guild master that she thought she defeated running towards her, bisentō in hand, his eyes holding anger-induced bloodlust. Lucy tried to move, but was unable to from her exhaustion. Lucy felt a powerful, stinging pain as the blade of the guild master's bisentō slashed at her stomach, blood gushing out of the wound. "LUCY!"

* * *

Lucy awoke to the sound of a low growl near her ear, her body in a grip of muscular arms and legs. "Get away from her...!" Cobra growled in his sleep, holding onto Lucy in a tight grip.

Lucy felt Cobra's naked chest against her back, the tan man holding her right against his body. Lucy tried to turn her body around, but it proved to be difficult as every time she managed to so much as turn slightly his growl would become louder and he would hold onto her even more tightly. Despite the difficulty, Lucy managed to turn her body around to look at Cobra's face.

Lucy's heart broke as she saw Cobra's face, not only was he mad and but he also looked a little pained. Ever since the incident at the dark guild a few weeks back, Cobra has been having nightmares about dark mages either trying kidnap Lucy or trying to kill her. Lucy couldn't blame her Cobra for these nightmares he was experiencing; it wouldn't be surprising for a Dragon Slayer to experience some form of trauma after seeing their mate go through a near-death experience. For a moment, Lucy actually believed that it was the end of her.

"Don't you dare touch her!" Cobra growled in his sleep, holding Lucy tightly like the type of reptile he shares his codename with. Cobra's arms became clawed with purple scales, a familiar dark red gas seeping through the scales. Lucy knew that if it wasn't for the fact that she was Cobra's mate - thus making her immune to all for forms of poison with the exception of god poison - she wouldn't be surviving this contact with Cobra's claws and scales.

Lucy managed to squeeze one of her arms out of Cobra's grip, the blonde proceeding to scratch Cobra's head, as it always calmed the Poison Dragon Slayer whenever she scratched his head. Cobra's face became less tense and his grip loosened, although he still kept a strong hold on Lucy.

"Co, listen, it's me Lucy." Lucy whispered soothingly into Cobra's ear, the man of course hearing it. "I'm okay, Co, no one's going to hurt me. Because you're by dragon protector, and I know you would never let any enemy lay even a finger on me."

"Lucy..." Cobra murmured as his hold on Lucy had loosened greatly, his legs no longer holding the blonde entirely. The asleep Cobra moved his head to the side of Lucy's neck, directed by his sense of smell, sniffing Lucy's scent. "I love you, Lucy..."

"And I love you two, my snake of a dragon." Lucy said, moving her head to whisper into Cobra's ear. "Wake up, sleeping handsome."

Cobra's eye shot open, the man now awake from his mate's voice. Cobra blinked as he looked at Lucy, a small tear appearing in his eyes. Cobra put his ear to Lucy's chest, listening to her heartbeat. Lucy ran her head down Cobra's head, already knowing why Cobra was hearing her heartbeat; because he was making sure that she was still alive.

Cobra moved his head off Lucy's chest, his eye still holding a sense of uneasiness. "Can I... see it?" Cobra asked. Lucy knew what Cobra meant by 'it', nodding as she moved the bed sheets to expose her unclothed stomach. Cobra immediately moved his face closer to Lucy's stomach, looking at the thin scar across it.

Cobra traced the scar with his finger, another low growl escaping from him. That damn scar served as a reminder to him that he couldn't protect her when she became his mate; alongside his days in Oración Seis where he willingly tried to kill her, the moment when the guild master of that Dark Guild slashed at Lucy's stomach was one of his most hated memories.

Cobra was lucky that Wendy and Racer were able to regain their magical energy; if Wendy didn't use her healing magic on Lucy and then Racer didn't quickly bring her to the nearby hospital, his mate would be sleeping in a coffin deep in the ground. Sadly, despite Wendy's healing magic and the doctors' profession in healing, they couldn't do anything about the scar.

Cobra let out a low growl again, he hated seeing a scar on his mate; he would have made the guild master pay if he didn't already poison him into bones in instincts-induced rage.

Lucy petted Cobra as the man traced his finger over her scar. If anyone would have told Lucy that she would end up falling in love with this man and becoming his mate during the Nirvana incident or the whole Infinity Clock ordeal, she would have thought they were joking. Oh how fate has an odd sense of humour.

"Fate is an evil bitch that will give you good things so she can take them from you." Cobra said, having heard his mate's thought. The man kissed Lucy on the lips, the kiss being one of great length and love. As Cobra and Lucy's lips separated, the man kept on alternating his sight from his mate's face to the scar on her belly, a low growl once again coming from him.

Lucy sighed as she looked at the rage on her mate's face whenever he looked at the scar, his sight on the scar becoming longer and longer with each alternation.

"It's just a scar, Erik." Lucy said, Cobra looking at her. Lucy cupped Cobra's face in her hands, softly rubbing her thumb down the scar on his face. "I'm still alive, and that's all that really matters. It's just a mark on my body, it never has brought a risk to my life and it never will. I'm not just going to spontaneously die one day because of this healed and sealed up wound."

Cobra stared at Lucy silently, the blonde pressing her forehead against his own, although her head started to descend to Cobra's neck as she began feeling drowsy, the effects of her lack of sleep kicking in.

"I'm not going to die soon, Erik. I'm alive... and that's what matters..." Lucy mumbled as her eyes slid close, a serene smile on her sleeping face as she snuggled it into his neck. Cobra listened to the sound of his girlfriend's quiet snores, her scent engulfing his entire sense of smell as her blonde hair was barely an inch away from his nostrils.

Cobra stoked Lucy's head as his eye started to close, the effects of tiredness succumbing him as well. "You're alive... and that's all that matters..." Cobra mumbled as he fell asleep with Lucy in his arms, a smile on his face as he dreamt of his mate and himself.

* * *

 **Author's Note: I think this might have been better in concept than on paper. Anyways, here's a Colu one-shot for all you fans.**


End file.
